Mondragon Assembly and Ikerlan develop the Egokia platform reinforcing its commitment to digitalization
This platform, developed in collaboration between Mondragon Assembly and IKERLAN, marks a paradigm shift in the exploitation of data and collaborative machine learning, guaranteeing data privacy.
Mondragon Assembly has already implemented the platform developed by IKERLAN in the production line of photovoltaic cells for solar panels at its Aretxabaleta plant and plans to have it in operation in a total of 10 production lines throughout this year.
Mondragon Assembly continues to strengthen its commitment to digitalisation with the implementation of EGOKIA, a pioneering cybersecure collaborative machine learning platform developed by IKERLAN technology centre that guarantees data privacy. With the development and implementation of this new technology, IKERLAN and Mondragon Assembly, a specialist in the design, manufacture and installation of equipment for the automation of assembly processes, are at the forefront of collaborative artificial intelligence applied to the automation of industrial processes in Spain. The EGOKIA project has received financial support from the Basque Government through the Hazitek R&D&I aid programme.
The EGOKIA platform, compared to current systems, allows the artificial intelligence models deployed in Mondragon Assembly machines and production lines to be “trained” collaboratively in local nodes of the different clients without sharing data between them. In this way, data cybersecurity is guaranteed and risks associated with data leakage are eliminated.
Mondragon Assembly has already started to use this platform on the photovoltaic cell production line for solar panels at its plant in Aretxabaleta and, over the course of the year, plans to have it in operation on a total of 10 production lines.
Jean Philippe Aguerre, manager of Innovation at Mondragon Assembly, says that thanks to the use of EGOKIA, “the company has a professional and robust tool capable of automatically generating and managing the different AI-based models that we use in production and customer plants around the world. Thanks to the platform developed by IKERLAN, we will be able to provide our customers with better services based on artificial intelligence that evolve over time, minimising costs, and gaining in efficiency and profitability, while also ensuring data privacy”.
Santi Charramendieta, researcher in the AI area of IKERLAN, highlights the importance of this case of technology transfer: “Currently, companies in our environment receive and store a huge amount of data, but they find it difficult to share, exploit and value this data. Our challenge is to design and implement solutions based on automatic and collaborative learning techniques that benefit in quality and reduce the cost of the production processes of each company.”
Opportunity for the Data Economy
The guarantee of governance and privacy offered by the EGOKIA solution developed by IKERLAN is also a business opportunity within the framework of the Data Economy, the promotion of which is one of the priorities of the European Union.
“The development of this platform also allows us to share new knowledge between companies in the same sector, such as the photovoltaic sector, to improve the standards of the sector as a whole, optimise production processes and better define quality criteria, all of which results in an improved service for our customers,” explains Jean Philippe Aguerre from Mondragon Assembly.
About IKERLAN
IKERLAN is a leading centre in technology transfer and in the contribution of competitive value to industry. It offers integral solutions combining different technological domains in two main areas: Electronics, Information and Communication Technologies (EICT), and Energy and Mechatronics. The technology centre’s team is currently made up of 400 people. As a co-operative member of the MONDRAGON Corporation and the Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), IKERLAN maintains a sustainable, competitive business model in permanent transformation.
About Mondragon Assembly
Mondragon Assembly is an international group specialising in the development of automation and assembly solutions. The parent company in Spain, which is a cooperative, was created in 1977 and is one of the pioneers in the development of production and assembly technologies. Mondragon Assembly is divided into three business areas: Solar, E-Mobility and Energy Storage and Automation. Its main activities in each of these businesses include the development of turnkey lines and machines and contract manufacturing, being able to offer solutions anywhere in the world with its six production plants and three technical and commercial offices.
It belongs to the MONDRAGON Corporation, one of Europe’s leading business groups.